The Romans on the Danube

In Traun Castle in Petronell, built in 1673, around 1,200 exhibits were used to give visitors an understanding of life in the first five centuries after the birth of Christ, when the country was part of the Roman Empire. The regional exhibition aimed to present an era that not only interests archaeologists, but also influenced the entire further development of the region and has had an impact right up to the present day.

Mighty ruins from Roman times can still be seen today, such as the Pagan Gate, which has become a tourist symbol for the entire region. Many towns and villages developed from ancient military camps or settlements (e.g. Linz/Lentia, Wels/Ovilava, Enns/Lauriacum, Erlauf/Arelape), and the excellent road network built by the Romans was also used during the Middle Ages and into modern times, promoting the development of the region.

Under Emperor Augustus, Rome succeeded in pushing the northern border of the empire to the Danube, and “the fortune of being a fortified borderland exposed to the increasingly fierce attacks from the Barbaricum over the course of time also left its mark on the country” (exhibition director Herma Stiglitz).

As early as the first century AD, a chain of large and small camps was established along the Danube, in the vicinity of which flourishing settlements developed. “With the Roman troops, members of foreign peoples came into the country in greater numbers, and the needs of the soldiers and locals for foreign goods promoted trade,” says Stiglitz.

The exhibition presented all manifestations of life in this era: Military, state and urban administration (with all the achievements of Roman civilization such as water pipes, sewers and baths), economy, private life, the cult of the dead, religion and early Christianity. This national exhibition was scientifically supervised by the Austrian Archaeological Institute of the University of Vienna. Numerous scientists from the then neighboring states of Czechoslovakia, Hungary and Yugoslavia also collaborated, insofar as areas in their countries belonged to the former Roman province of Pannonia.

Governor Andreas Maurer wrote in the catalog: “The exhibition at Traun Castle in Petronell-Carnuntum is intended to continue the series of major cultural events that have long given special emphasis to cultural work in Lower Austria.” The provincial exhibition “The Romans on the Danube” was visited by 75,000 people. The foot-and-mouth epidemic that had been raging since the beginning of 1973 had previously caused great difficulties in the preparations, so the exhibition could not be opened until the end of May.

Petronnell, Traun Castle